SEO14 min read Archive (2021)
Are Links Dead? Our 2021 Verdict + What's Changed in 2026
Links aren't dead in 2026 — but they got demoted. For Google's traditional rankings, backlinks still matter. For AI search visibility in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, brand mentions now correlate with citations three times more strongly than backlinks. This article preserves DirJournal's original 2021 infographic on link quality fundamentals and adds the 2026 update on what changed.
Dec 7, 2020Read